Human Influence
by Flick1138
Summary: A story involving the Ormerod family from The Royal and the Policemen from Heartbeat, with appearances from other characters. Involves a tragedy and a manhunt.
1. Chapter 1

It seemed to be an average evening in the Ormerod house. Katie was sitting cross – legged on the floor, whilst Tom sat next to his Dad on the sofa. Jill was in the kitchen making their dinner. Occasional snores could be heard being emitted from the general direction of the sofa. Gordon had his feet crossed upon Jill's prize coffee table, whilst Tom was drawing on his face.  
>Suddenly, Katie looked up and said, "Daddy, where are the London Docklands?"<br>Gordon grunted, as he was rudely awakened from a dream in which Katie was beating him about the head with a pillow. He wasn't quite sure what it meant. He decided to leave thinking about that until later. He looked at his daughter muttering, "What did you say, love?"  
>"Where are the London Docklands?" Katie repeated, becoming impatient.<br>Tom rolled his eyes and commented sarcastically, "In London, silly!"  
>Gordon, still being half asleep, missed the sarcasm in his 9 – year – old son's voice. He unsuspectingly replied, "Yes, Tom, they're in London."<br>Katie, annoyed and upset with what her little brother had just said, and also annoyed with her father for not noticing, directed sulkily at her brother, "I thought so, but I thought that I should ask first." Then turning to her father, enquired, "What happened to them? This book says they have become derelict. What does that mean, Daddy?"  
>Gordon answered, "It means that they have begun to be used less and less, until a few years ago, when they stopped using them altogether and so the area became untouched for years and the plants and rodents took over, so it became a dangerous place to be in."<br>"Ohhhhh…" Katie said, nodding her head rather vaguely. 

He continued, "Katie, promise me that you will never play in any derelict areas, even if your friends say that they're safe, without asking either me or Jill first, yes?"  
>"I promise Dad," Katie replied.<br>Turning to his son, he added, "That includes you too, Tom."  
>"I promise, Dad," he responded.<br>"Good," he replied, relieved.  
>With an enquiring look on her face, Katie asked rather solemnly, "Does that include Jill too, Daddy?"<br>Gordon looked at Jill, obviously amused. Looking into Jill's loving green eyes, he responded quietly, "I think Jill knows if something is safe or not."  
>Looking at Jill, Katie decides to add cheekily, "Well, do you?"<br>Smiling affectionately, she replied, amused, "Yes Katie, I do." Turning to her husband, she added, "Why don't you tell them a bit more about the Docklands whilst I finish dinner?" As she said this, she noticed her husband's shoe-clad feet on top of her beautiful coffee table.  
>"Would you like that kids?" Gordon asked.<br>Replying together, "Yes," they both proceeded to jump on Gordon at the same time, causing him to groan. Jill rolled her eyes.  
>"And you can take your feet off of my poor coffee table at the same time!" she continued, indignantly.<br>He smiled at his wife, who merely raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Ok. Well, let's see. The London Docklands is an area of urban regeneration, between London Bridge, the Surrey Docks and the Royal Docks."  
>He was interrupted again, with "Daddy, where is Surrey?"<br>from his son, who was still on top of him. Katie, being 12, felt she was a little grown up for sitting on her dad's knee, so had sat back down on the carpet.  
>"It's just south of London. Would you like me to show you on a map?" he replied to the back of his son's head.<br>"Yes please, Daddy. I've never heard of it before," was the reply he got from Katie. He got silence from Tom.  
>Jokingly, he asked, "Haven't you? What do they teach you in geography nowadays? In my day we had to know where places on the map were, so that we could point them out, didn't we Jill."<br>"Yes, we did," she added equally as jokingly, "Your Dad was never any good at it though!"  
>"Really?" Katie asked sounding genuinely interested.<br>"Yes. He seemed convinced that Amsterdam was in Scotland!" she chuckled, with laughter in her eyes.  
>"No, I didn't…." he retorted, sounding insulted. However, it didn't work. Jill could see straight through his pretence. She knew him too well. He decided it was probably better to stay on the right side of her. Not that she'd get angry with him, she rarely got angry with anyone and if she did, it was usually with her parents. They were rather embarrassing. But then all parents are at times. But hers were always embarrassing. However since he wanted his dinner on a complete plate, so he'd have to be nice to her.<br>"It's no good denying it," she continued jokingly, "Jim would tell me all about your blond mistakes in geography whilst we were walking home from school."  
>"You had to walk home?" Katie could barely contain her surprise.<br>"Yes, only the most privileged people had cars in those days. You should try walking home sometime!" she mused.  
>Katie gave Jill a look of disbelief. She stated, "You mean you were poor?"<br>Gordon and Jill laughed.  
>Recovering himself, Gordon lifted Tom onto the other seat of the sofa, and put a hand onto his daughter's shoulder, saying, "Katie, just because you aren't privileged doesn't automatically mean that you're poor! I mean, we're not privileged, but we're not poor are we."<br>Embarrassed, she said, "No." After a few seconds thought, she added "Is Jim your brother, Jill?"  
>"Yes, he's my older brother."<br>"How many years older is he?" she asked innocently.  
>"Katie!" Gordon started, shocked at his daughter's lack of tact.<br>"Gordon, I don't mind," she said, with a strong hint in her voice, which was telling him to let sleeping dogs lie.  
>"So how many years older is he?" she asked again, looking enquiringly at her step-mum.<br>"He's six years older than me," she smiled.  
>"So that means that Daddy's six years older than you too," she said thoughtfully.<br>"Yes, I suppose he is," Jill answered absent-mindedly.  
>"You mean you don't know?" Katie asked, confused.<br>Shaking his head in amusement, he explained, "What Jill means is that she supposes that that would make sense, but didn't say so."  
>"So she does know how many years older you are than her?" she asked.<br>Simultaneously, the two replied, "Yes."  
>"Good," she stated, satisfied.<br>"So, where were we?" Gordon asked cheerfully, pleased to have got the previous conversation about his age out of the way.  
>"The London Docklands!" It was Katie's turn to be sarcastic.<br>"Don't roll your eyes, young lady, or they'll stay like that," he teased.  
>"You look a bit pale, Tom. Are you alright?" Jill asked him, concerned.<br>As if for an answer, he threw up all over the carpet and passed out. 


	2. Chapter 2

Jill moved over to him and knelt at his feet. "Tom? Tom?" she repeated, whilst stroking his hair and gently holding on to him, so that he didn't fall off of the sofa.  
>Katie, thinking it was disgusting, said distastefully, "Euugghhh!"<br>"Katie!" Gordon exclaimed, "You can clean it up if you make that noise one more time!"  
>Katie looked sheepishly at her feet. Once seeing them, she realised to her horror, that her brother's vomit was scattered over her shoes.<br>"Euugghhh! Daddy, he's puked on my shoes!" she moaned.  
>"Katie! The cloth is in the drawer to the right of the sink, and there's a dustpan and brush beneath the sink," he said, making his displeasure clear.<br>"Awwww…. Daddy, why?" she whined again.  
>"Can one of you please fetch a bowl and for goodness sake stop arguing?" Jill stressed urgently.<br>Tom groaned and leant his head on Jill's shoulder.  
>"It's Ok love. Come on, let's get you to bed," she said, hugging him gently.<br>"I'll carry him up to bed," Gordon offered.  
>He staggered off upstairs with a limp Tom in his arms. He shouted back downstairs for Katie to hurry up with that bowl, whilst Jill was deciding what to do with the duster which Katie had put bleach on, thinking it would help their red carpet. After some thought, she decided it was probably better if it went in the bin. She didn't want Tom putting it in the fish tank, whilst he was sleep – walking. She doubted he would currently, since he was ill, but still, better to be safe than sorry. She looked up as Katie ran heavily down the stairs.<p>

Jill picked up a cloth, as Katie looked distastefully at her brother's vomit again.  
>"Come over here, Katie," she requested, "We must get that vomit off of your shoes before it dries."<br>"You mean it could stay there?" Katie asked. She was very fond of her shoes; in fact she was fond of all 10 pairs of her shoes.  
>She was definitely turning into a shopaholic, Jill thought, just like her mother. She would have to make sure that Katie didn't find alcohol and gambling as enjoyable as well. She could cope with Katie loving shopping, that was normal for teenage girls, but she didn't want her stepdaughter heading the same self-destructing way as her late mother. She thought about this as she knelt down to wipe the sticky substance off of Katie's shoes.<br>"There!" she said after a minute. "I would suggest you take them off and leave them beneath the radiator to let them dry."  
>Katie undid the straps of her now clean, shiny, black shoes, carefully avoiding the area, which had previously been a mild shade of green. Deftly, she removed her feet and carefully placed them beneath their clanking radiator.<br>"Have you still not done anything about that radiator?" she demanded of Gordon, who was creeping down the stairs, trying not to wake his sleeping son.  
>"The plumber said that he'd get back to me when he'd finished his current job," he protested.<br>"I dread to think what could happen if it's left any longer," she worriedly replied.  
>"Jill, I really think we should call Jeff to take a look at Tom. We can't treat him, as we are too emotionally involved, and we have Katie to consider," he put to her, glaring at their radiator, which considered now to be perfect timing to clank even louder.<br>"How is he?" she asked.  
>"He's not well at all. I think it could be serious, Jill," he whispered, so that Katie couldn't hear.<br>Katie looked from one of her parents to the other, trying to catch a hint of what might be happening and why they were looking so serious.  
>"Daddy, what's wrong with Tom?" she questioned quietly.<br>Gordon moved towards her and knelt down, so that he was talking to her at her height. "We don't know Katie," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders, "That's why we're going to call Dr Goodwin. He will find out for us," he said giving her a watery smile.  
>"Why can't you or Jill find out?" she asked.<br>"It's best that Dr Goodwin treats him, as he is his GP," he answered, trying to bypass the question. But Katie wasn't at Grammar school for any reason. She knew that he hadn't answered her question directly, deliberately. She tried again.  
>"Daddy, why can't you or Jill treat him?" she repeated.<br>"Dr Goodwin's a good doctor Katie. He'll make sure that Tom's all right," he answered; again trying to avoid answering the question directly.  
>"Daddy, why are you lying to me? Why won't you tell me the truth? No one ever tells me anything. You still won't tell me why people at St Cecilia's gave me foul looks and called me names! I moved schools for a reason and that reason had something to do with you and Eva Jason! I am not stupid. I can see the way people look at you in the street. But still no one has told me anything!" she cried, storming up to her bedroom in tears. SLAM!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

"Katie, please don't slam your door like that," begged Jill from the bottom of the stairs, "It'll make your brother feel worse!"  
>"Your brother! Your brother! Your brother! Why is everything always about how Tom is and what he's doing? You never ask me how I am, or what I'm doing! And I can slam the door if I want – it's my bedroom!" she yelled. She turned round and ran into her room sobbing. She leapt onto the bed and wept into her magnolia pillow.<br>"Great!" sighed Jill, putting her hand to her head.  
>"I am going to give her a piece of my mind. She can't talk like that!" muttered Gordon, angrily.<br>"No, Gordon, no. You shouting your head off at her won't make things any better," she convinced him.  
>"Well, have you got a better suggestion?" he asked desperately.<br>"I'll talk to her. See if there's something wrong. It might be something just us girls need to talk through together," she said. She hoped that it was Katie just turning into a teenager a little early, but she thought it best to have a chat with her, just to make sure.  
>As Jill walked up the stairs, she could hear her husband dialling the number for The Royal into the phone.<br>Gordon hoped that Jeff would still be at the hospital, because Jeff had told him before he left that he was staying late because he and Lucy Klein wanted to discuss the treatment of Grace Dixon's epilepsy.  
>"Good evening, The Royal!" Lizzy's cheery voice said down the phone to him.<br>"Lizzy, it's Dr Ormerod. Is Dr Goodwin there?"  
>"Oh, hello Dr Ormerod. Sorry, Dr Goodwin's been called out. Grace Dixon has had another epileptic fit and it sounded pretty serious. Was it important?"<br>"Lizzy, could you find me the number for Dr Joseph's clinic? Tom is sick and he needs a doctor."  
>"Can't you treat him?" said Lizzy thoughtlessly.<br>"Lizzy, you know I can't. Not since Eva Jason died. And anyway, he's my son; I'm too emotionally involved," Gordon said with a hint of resentment in his voice. If only he'd had a full copy of her notes before he'd instructed Samantha to administer that fatal injection. He shouldn't dwell on what might have been though; he had to think about helping Tom to get better. That was the most important thing.  
>"Sorry Doctor, you know I didn't mean it like that. Me and my big mouth." After he heard Lizzy shuffling some papers, he heard her ask, "Dr Joseph. Isn't he the new doctor at Ashfordly General?"<br>"Yes, he is." Gordon smiled. He knew that Lizzy hadn't intentionally meant to upset him, but she really had to try to function her brain before her mouth, he thought. "Lizzy, his number?"  
>"Yes, of course Doctor. Here it is."<br>Gordon heard a thud, before, "Oh, not again!" from Lizzy. He smiled secretly to himself. No doubt Lizzy had dropped something again.  
>"Ok Doctor, here it is."<br>Gordon found a scrap of paper and a chewed pencil in the drawer beneath the telephone.  
>"0434 734890," Lizzy said efficiently.<br>"Lizzy; that's our number!" said Gordon, rolling his eyes. Absent-mindedly, his thoughts led him back to the conversation he had had with Katie earlier that evening about rolling your eyes making them stay that way. He smiled to himself.  
>"Oh, so it is Doctor, sorry. His number is here somewhere. Ahh…found it now," she announced, satisfied.<br>"0434 985451."  
>"Isn't that Dr Klein's home number, Lizzy?" he asked again.<br>"Oh of course," she replied, exhausted.  
>"Lizzy, I think you should get some rest," Gordon advised.<br>Yawning, she said, "No, no, Doctor. I'm fine. This is his number; it has his name at the top. 0434 787131."  
>"Thank you, Lizzy. Remember, get some rest tonight," he reminded her, "Goodnight."<br>"Goodnight Doctor," she repeated.

Jill knocked on Katie's door. She could hear her crying inside. She didn't want to appear too harsh, as Katie might hate her for that and then she may never discover if there was a problem, but she didn't want to appear as though she was giving in to her. Gordon wouldn't like it if she did that.  
>"What?" Katie asked moodily.<br>"Katie, it's Jill. Can I come in?" Jill requested gently.  
>"I suppose," Katie said tearfully.<br>Jill opened the door softly. She didn't want Katie getting the impression that Jill was angry. Well she wasn't. She was just tired. There was something distinctly odd about the room as she entered, something secretive and private. It reminded her a little of her childhood. Her first boyfriend; the one no one had approved of. Typically they had all been right about him. He had run off with his ex-girlfriend; the one he had still phoned when he was walking out with Jill. She had not thought anything of it at the time, since she was thirteen and naïve. It made her think of the tears spilt arguing to see him, with her parents and then the tears she threw at them when three months on they had said, "I told you so…."

Katie looked up as Jill entered. She wanted to smile when she saw her kindly step mum, but remembered that she couldn't, as she was supposed to be in a mood.  
>Jill sat down on the bed next to Katie. She noticed the tears roll down Katie's reddened cheeks and put an arm round her shoulders. She stroked her hair, whilst Katie sobbed onto Jill's shoulder. When the tears would no longer run, Katie sat with her head resting on Jill's shoulder.<br>After a few minutes, Jill looked down at Katie and said, "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"  
>"I've got tummy ache," she replied reluctantly, trying not to cry again.<br>"Katie, why didn't you say before? We could have tucked you up in bed as well," she said, smiling. "Shall I make you a hot water bottle?"  
>"I'd like that," Katie replied, smiling back.<br>Jill left Katie to get changed for bed and went to find her special hot water bottle, since Tom had the family one. Once downstairs, she filled the kettle up and placed it on the stove. As Gordon walked across the room to her, she heard the kettle whistle and quickly lifted it off of the stove. As she was about to pour the water into the hot water bottle, Gordon smiled expectantly and enquired, "Who's the special person then?"  
>"Katie has tummy ache. I said I would make her up a hot water bottle to take to bed with." She smiled to herself, as she saw the disappointed look on Gordon's face. He could always make her smile, she thought, it was one of the reasons she loved him so much.<br>She turned around just in time to see Tom collapse onto the living room carpet.  
>She rushed towards him, knocking Gordon into the sideboard, in her concern to see if Tom was all right. "Tom?" she asked, "Tom?" She sounded very concerned. She hated seeing the children ill. It worried her more than seeing her husband ill, because she knew that he had a strong immune system and rarely got ill anyway. "Gordon, do you think he's been sleep-walking again?" Jill asked of her husband. "I had better go and sit in his room to make sure it doesn't happen again," she added.<br>"No, Jill. You're exhausted. You get some sleep and I will stay with Tom," he offered gently.  
>Jill smiled weakly. "If you're sure."<br>"Yes, I'm sure. Now take that hot water bottle upstairs for Katie and I will take Tom back to bed. Tell Katie I will pop in to wish her a good night's sleep," he ordered.  
>"I will," she agreed. "I love you, Gordon," she whispered, before saying goodnight to him.<br>"Love you too, Jill," he answered.  
>Jill crept up the stairs, each footfall heavier than usual. She was ready to collapse into bed. She had had a hard day. She had been called out 3 times to Arnold Winger's farm because his 7-year-old daughter had...Scarlet fever!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh my goodness," she thought. "Gordon," she called. "Gordon!"  
>Gordon thought he heard his wife calling him, so he walked towards their bedroom, leaving the door to Tom's room wide open, so that if Tom were to need him, he could hear. "Jill? Jill, is everything okay?" he asked her, concerned that his wife should be sounding this urgent at 10:00 in the evening, just before they went to bed.<br>"Oh, Gordon, I'm sorry!" cried Jill. "Alicia Winger has Scarlet fever and I visited their farm 3 times today. Mary Hackett, George and James Kinsley all have it too."  
>"And they are all in the same form as Tom at school," they both said together, an expression of realisation appearing on both of their faces.<br>"I will go and call Dr Joseph now!" said Gordon, urgency now in his voice.  
>"Katie has tummy ache too. She could have it too!" whispered Jill. The realisation was too much to cope with that evening.<br>When Gordon reappeared in the doorway of their bedroom, he looked pale.  
>"Is everything alright with Dr Joseph? Is he coming round?" Jill asked. A hundred questions suddenly tumbling through her brain. What if she had realised earlier? What if he hadn't vomited; would he still be feeling ill, with nobody knowing? Could they have predicted that something like this would happen sometime soon? There hadn't been an epidemic of Scarlet fever in North Yorkshire since 1943. She remembered it clearly. It was summer in the middle of the war. She had had it herself. The doctor had said that she had nearly died on her thirteenth birthday. She hated the disease. Mostly since it had killed her best friend. She still visited her grave. But what had hurt most about it was that no one had told her until she recovered, and by that time it was too late to say goodbye to the one person she truly trusted.<br>"He told me that he had been called out by three other people, all of them children in Tom's class. He was just on his way out when I rang. He agreed to come and see Tom first thing tomorrow morning. He said that he was sorry, but it was the best he could do."  
>Jill could just see the outline of his drained expression through the darkness of the bedroom. She lay in bed, waiting for her husband to return from checking on Tom and Katie and to join her. She just hoped that Tom would last the night if he had Scarlet fever.<p>

Gordon could tell that his wife was asleep when he returned to their bedroom. Katie and Tom had both been asleep when he had checked on them. He looked at his watch as he climbed into bed. It was 11:05pm. Had it really been over an hour since Jill had warned him about the Scarlet fever? It certainly didn't feel that way.


	5. Chapter 5

Katie opened her eyes. The morning sun was streaming through her curtains, casting shadows on everything it hit. Her tummy still hurt and it was worse than yesterday. She looked at her alarm clock. It hadn't rung yet, so she decided that it must be fairly early. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and peered closer at the clock. It was 7:35am. Ten minutes until Daddy woke her up. As she grew more accustomed to the light, she woke up more. It dawned on her that she was extremely thirsty, so she climbed out of bed so she could go downstairs in order to get herself a drink. As she picked up her duvet to make her bed, she noticed a small patch of blood on the bed sheet.

Sweating slightly, she quickly pulled the duvet over it, not wanting to think about what could be happening. She walked over to fetch her baby pink dressing gown, which was hanging on a peg on the back of her door, noticing as she did so, that her legs were a little weak. She threw on the gown as she carefully opened her bedroom door and crept towards the stairs. She knew exactly where to tread, so that her footfalls made no noise. Unfortunately, this time she missed, since there were other things on her mind. Hearing the floorboard creak menacingly, she stood still for a minute, just to make sure she had not woken anybody up. "Bother," she thought, "How could I have forgotten about that floorboard? It has always been the creakiest," she asked herself as she walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Katie creased her nose, since the smell of her brother's vomit had lingered in the air overnight. As she reached into the cupboard for a glass, she saw the world swim before her eyes and a wave of nausea engulf her body.


	6. Chapter 6

Gordon awoke suddenly to the sound of a glass smash from downstairs. He failed to understand why someone should be up at this hour. He looked at the clock on his bedside table. 7:45am! His watch must have stopped! He leapt out of bed and ran into Katie's bedroom to wake her up. What he met in Katie's room was a neatly made bed with unopened curtains, but no Katie! He ran out onto the landing, to see if she had gone to the bathroom. But no; the door to the pale blue bathroom was stood sleepily ajar; just the way he had left it last night after using their brand new, flashy toilet. Then it occurred to him. "Katie?" he called as he took the stairs two at a time. Since there was no disturbance in the living room, he ran into the kitchen, where he was faced with Katie lying on her side, a smashed glass by her hand, and a bloodstain on her dressing gown.

Gordon crouched down by her side, whispering gently, "Katie? Katie, love?" He looked at her body as a whole, noticing as he did so, how much his daughter had grown up in the months she had been at Elsinby Comprehensive. Not just mentally, but physically also.

Jill turned over in bed to wish her husband a good morning. She saw her husband's side of the bed empty and unmade. "He must be up," she thought. She sat up in bed. It was nearly ten to eight. Jill swung her legs out of bed, carefully trying not to get tangled in the duvet as she had done the morning before, and walked into their en suite bathroom.

Downstairs, Katie began to come round. She tried to sit up, but felt light-headed again, so lay back down. She noticed that her dad was crouched beside her, holding her left hand, worriedly, like he always did if she fainted. She smiled weakly, worried that if she smiled any harder, the nausea could return.  
>"Katie are you all right?" he asked her.<br>"I think so, but I feel a little faint," she replied. "I came down for a drink because I was thirsty," she added, becoming aware that there was an embarrassingly large patch of blood staining her pink dressing gown.  
>"What would you like to drink?" he asked her, after helping her onto the nearest chair.<br>"Daddy, please, I need to use the bathroom," she announced, before proceeding to lift herself out of the chair and walk towards the stairs, one hand on her tummy.  
>Having got dressed ready for work, Jill headed for Tom's room to check on him. As she walked through their bedroom doorway, she nearly collided with Katie, who was slowly making her way towards the empty bathroom.<br>"Katie, do you still have tummy ache? You look very pale," Jill asked her, concerned.  
>"Yes, it is worse today and I feel a little faint as well," she added.<br>Jill's eyes crept over Katie's body, her gaze stopping as she spied the bloodstain on her stepdaughter's dressing gown. "Perhaps," she thought. "Is it possible? Well, she is 12," Jill considered.  
>"Katie, will you come into our bathroom with me? There is something I need to talk to you about," she said, smiling slightly to herself.<p>

All sorts of awful thoughts were passing through Katie's head as they made their way into the en suite bathroom, which she rarely entered, as she and Tom were told many years ago that they were not allowed into their parents bedroom, because it was a private room; somewhere where Caroline and Gordon could go to to get some privacy. She remembered three months ago, when Jill first moved in with them, after Daddy and Jill had told them that they were in love, that Daddy had told her and Tom again, that they would still not be allowed into his and Jill's bedroom. She had expected this, since if they were not allowed in when Mummy slept in Daddy's bed, then they would not be allowed in when Jill also slept in Daddy's bed.  
>Jill shut the door to the bathroom and smiling at Katie said, "Don't look so worried, I don't think it can be that bad."<br>Katie tried smiling but it didn't work. She was still very worried about what could be wrong with her, why Jill wanted to talk to her alone and why her tummy ache would not go away. She felt possessed by it.  
>Jill continued, "Katie, can you take your dressing gown off for me, please?"<br>Katie did not see anything wrong with this request, so slowly undid the tie around her waist and dropped the gown onto the floor.  
>Jill could see immediately what was happening.<br>"Katie, how much do you know about periods?" she asked her.  
>Katie's expression remained blank, although Jill could see the worry clouding her eyes.<br>"P-periods?" she queried, even more worried.  
>"You don't know anything about it?" Jill asked. How would she go about explaining this to Katie, she thought. She knew exactly how her stepdaughter would react to being told about the changes, which women experience as they grew up.<br>"Well, we shall talk about it once you have got changed," she told her, not knowing what else to say, since she had never been in this position before. She was worried about what they would do about work that day, since she didn't think that Katie would want her father looking after her under her circumstances. Also with Gordon unable to treat children for 6 months due to the unfortunate incident with Eva Jason, Jeff would need her to be at The Royal in case of any emergencies, which could arise. 


	7. Chapter 7

'Ring! Ring!' rang out Tom's alarm clock loudly. He winced, since his earache just became a whole lot worse. He wished that he had asked his Dad to turn it off when he took him up to bed the evening before.

Their doorbell, which worked temperamentally, created a flat, dull 'Ding-dong!' Gordon went to answer the door.  
>"Mr Ormerod?" said a strong Ukrainian accent, "I am Dr Joseph."<br>"Good morning, Dr Joseph. Please, do come in. Jill, Dr Joseph is here!" he called upstairs to his wife. "Tom is upstairs. Shall I take you up to see him?" he asked of the Doctor.  
>"Good morning, Doctor. Jill Ormerod," she said, smiling sweetly, whilst holding out her hand to greet him.<br>Dr Joseph took her hand and said, "Good morning, Mrs Ormerod," slightly too sweetly for the liking of the couple. "So, where is Tom?" he asked, diverting his stare away from Jill, much to the relief of them both.  
>"Tom is through here," answered Jill, pleased to change the subject.<br>"I will take him through, whilst you get Katie ready for school," Gordon stated matter-of-factly.  
>"Gordon, can I have a word, please?" Jill whispered.<br>"Jill, I'm sure he is a very good doctor," Gordon reassured her, "You worry too much, love," he smiled.  
>"Gordon!" she ushered urgently. "Gordon!"<br>He sighed, annoyed. He turned around to face his wife.  
>"Gordon, Katie's not well."<br>He started, looking concerned. He had a soft spot for his young daughter.  
>"Gordon, she's started her periods," Jill announced out of the blue. It took a few seconds to sink in.<br>"Is she all right? That must be why she was bleeding this morning," he realised, thinking out loud.  
>"You've already seen her this morning?" Jill asked him confused.<br>"Yes. She had collapsed downstairs. I heard a glass shatter this early this morning, so I went to investigate and found her lying on the floor, surrounded by glass!" he finished without taking a breath. "Talking of glass, I must go and sweep up the broken glass on the kitchen floor," he said, seeing Jill's expression go from bad to worse.  
>"She was surrounded by glass?" Jill asked him, looking horrified. "Why on earth didn't you tell me?" she questioned, despairingly.<br>"I thought Katie would have told you," he assumed, "You two are fairly close now – like mother and daughter." He smiled at her when he said this.  
>Jill shook her head. He really wanted her to become a true mother to Tom and Katie. But she wasn't their mother; only their step-mum and she liked it that way. She didn't want to impose and ruin the memory the children had of their late mother.<br>"Mr and Mrs Ormerod," came the distinctive Ukrainian accent, from Tom's bedroom.  
>Gordon and Jill both turned round to face the doctor. His expression was serious.<br>"I am afraid that Tom has contracted Scarlet Fever," he told them softly. "He must be quarantined at once to avoid transmitting it to anyone else. I am afraid that since you and your family have been near him recently, you must also be quarantined!" 


	8. Chapter 8

The sudden realisation of the enormity of the situation hit and the usually strong-nerved Jill broke down in tears.  
>"Gordon, what will we do with work?" she asked. "What about all of our patients? That's two of us away for five weeks and Jeff can't cope by himself!" she continued through tears.<br>Gordon took her in his arms and stroked her back comfortingly.  
>"Everything will work itself out, Jill, you'll see," he told her, unsure himself.<br>"We will organise some cover doctors, for the time when you are away," Dr Joseph assured them, "Please may I use your telephone, so that I may call for an ambulance in which to take Tom to hospital?" he asked.  
>"Yes," agreed Gordon, "Downstairs on your left."<br>"Thank you," he answered.

Dr Joseph came back upstairs. "I shall need a list of people with whom you have all been in contact with recently," Dr Joseph asked them, from the top of the stairs.  
>Jill looked up from Gordon's shoulder, on which she had been resting her head. "That's everyone at The Royal!" she realised.<br>"As well as everyone in Tom's and Katie's classes at school. Not to mention their teachers," finished Gordon, who was also in shock, realising the extent of the problem.  
>"Would you be able to make me a list of all of those people, please?" Dr Joseph asked, trying not to feel as though he was intruding.<br>"Of course, Doctor," replied Jill, soberly.

The list reached eight pages, since they had to include everyone, whom Tom and Katie could have come into contact with at school, all of the staff at The Royal, all of their patients and their family members, as if a patient had picked up the illness, they could easily have passed it onto another family member without realising they had the illness because of its incubation period.

"The ambulance has arrived," Dr Joseph announced, as he turned away from the front window to look at Gordon and Jill.  
>"Can I go with him, please?" begged Jill, desperate to know that Tom would get better and feeling determined for him not to be alone, since he had never been on his own before.<br>"No, Jill, Katie needs you here. I can go with Tom," Gordon assured her.  
>"Well, if you're sure, Gordon," she backed down.<br>"Have you had the Scarlet fever before?" Dr Joseph asked Gordon.  
>"Yes, I have," Gordon informed him.<br>"Then that is all right," Dr Joseph replied.  
>They moved to one side as Frankie and Mike came up the stairs with a stretcher on which to carry Tom to the ambulance on.<br>"Daddy!" Tom called out weakly.  
>"It's okay Tom, I'm here. I'm coming with you," he called through the door.<br>Frankie and Mike ably lifted Tom onto the stretcher. They picked the stretcher up slightly jerkily and Tom moaned, his head aching mercilessly.  
>"Gently," Dr Joseph instructed.<br>"Sorry Tom," Frankie said, apologetically.  
>"Another ambulance will arrive soon or you and your daughter," Dr Joseph told Jill.<br>"Katie's my step-daughter," she informed him, "And none of us have had any breakfast either," she continued.  
>Dr Joseph informed them that they would be able to eat at the Quarantine Unit.<br>"Daddy!" Tom called again, this time from the bottom of the stairs.  
>"Coming, Tom!" he called back. "You'll look after Katie, won't you?" he asked Jill, impatient to get down the stairs to be with his son.<br>"Of course. I love you, Gordon." She smiled at him.  
>"Love you too!" He kissed her before departing down the stairs, two at a time.<p>

Jill knocked on Katie's bedroom door. She helped her to pack a bag with a change of clothes and a few bits and pieces to keep her entertained whilst she was quarantined. Then Katie was allowed to get ready. Jill went into hers and her husband's bedroom and packed a bag for them. She heard their bedroom door creak and looked up to see Katie stood in the doorway looking a little uncomfortable. Jill smiled and stood up.  
>"Jill, there isn't a bin in the bathroom," Katie said, slightly embarrassed.<br>"You can use the bin in your bedroom," Jill suggested.  
>Katie disappeared. One minute later, she had reappeared in the doorway, and was asking Jill about when they would be having breakfast.<br>"When we get to the Quarantine Unit, Katie," she said, "The ambulance will be here soon to take us there," Jill continued regretfully.  
>"What about school, Jill? They will want to know where Tom and I are. Which hospital are we going to? How long will it take to get there? I hope it's The Royal, because then my friends can come and visit me! So can Granddad and your Mummy and Daddy can too! How long do you think we'll have to stay there?" Katie rushed.<br>"Katie, it's not a holiday and no-one will be allowed to visit us whilst we are there, in case we or anyone else there infect them. And I have no idea which hospital we will be going to, since Dr Joseph didn't say," answered Jill, her head dizzy with all the questions Katie was firing at her. "But I shall phone your schools, as they must be informed," she continued, absent-mindedly.  
>Katie looked disappointed. It would be so lonely in that place. She wouldn't even have her brother to play with.<p>

Throughout the whole of the journey to the Quarantine Unit, Katie's expression remained one of dismay and loneliness. Jill knew exactly how Katie felt; she was feeling the same way. She looked at Katie. Their eyes met for the flicker of a second. But in that second, so much was said and yet no words left the mouth of either. It was amazing how much an expression could say.  
>Katie removed her gaze from a dishevelled Jill. She wished that she had sat next to Jill in the ambulance instead of across from her. At that point, she needed a friend and Jill was the only one she had. She looked back up at Jill. Jill wasn't looking in her direction. Katie looked at her feet again, feeling scared. She still had tummy ache, and Jill was the only person who understood what she was going through.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

At the Quarantine Unit, Katie held Jill's hand, since it was comforting knowing she wasn't on her own.  
>The nurse who was on duty at reception looked vaguely familiar to Jill, but she couldn't remember where she had seen her before. She did not have time to look at the name badge on her uniform, since another nurse came up to them and introduced herself as Nurse Jenny Johns. Jill made a mental note to look at the other nurse's name badge, the next time she saw her.<p>

The corridor smelled of antiseptic, Tom thought as they wheeled him down to a private room in the Isolation Ward at Ashfordly General Hospital. The lights were also very bright, bright enough to give him a pounding headache. 

His room was white, he noticed. The walls were white, the bed was white, even the floor was white.  
>"Mr Ormerod, I'm afraid you will have to wait outside," said Dr Joseph.<br>"Daddy!" Tom called out from inside the small room.  
>"It's all right, Tom, I'm just outside," he told him gently.<br>"Daddy, please don't leave me here!" Tom said, beginning to  
>cry.<br>"Tom! Listen to me. I'm not going to leave you – I promise!" Gordon informed his son firmly. "Please can I go in and sit with him, Doctor? I can't just stand here." Gordon looked at Dr Joseph pleadingly.  
>"I suppose," agreed Dr Joseph, shaking his head because he had had to give in. "But you must wear protective clothing."<br>Dr Joseph handed Gordon a mask, a gown, normally worn in theatre, and a pair of examination gloves. He looked regretfully at the attire he was required to wear, in order to be with his son, and put it on. As he entered the room, he saw a pale, thin, 9-year-old boy, lying on a hospital bed, attached to a drip, with an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. As Gordon approached the bed, he could see how young Tom looked. He picked up the boy's hand. He saw Tom's eyes flicker open at his father's touch. Gordon smiled down at his son. Pulling over a lonely chair from a disused corner of the room, he sat down.


	10. Chapter 10

Jill looked up as a nurse entered the room with a tray. She hoped it would be the one who was on reception when they arrived. It wasn't; it was Nurse Johns again. But it wasn't since this nurse had blue eyes, not green eyes. Jill looked at her name badge. "Nurse Helen Johns" it read. They must be sisters, Jill thought. They were too alike not to be.  
>"Supper!" she announced, smiling.<br>Katie looked up from the sketch she had been drawing. "Good!" she grinned, "I'm so hungry!"  
>Jill smiled. At least Katie hadn't lost her appetite. She approached the table where they had already eaten breakfast and dinner. Katie was already tucking into sausages, mashed potato and cabbage. It was only 5:30pm. They never ate this early in the evening. When Jill eventually sat down, Katie was delving into a heaped bowl of jelly and ice cream.<br>"Katie, slow down!" she warned her.  
>"I'm hungry," Katie moaned.<br>Jill smiled and took a bite of sausage. They gave large portions at the Unit, she noticed. They must think that they didn't eat at home.


	11. Chapter 11

"Mr Ormerod?" said the Matron of the Isolation Ward. "I'm sorry, but you will have to leave now. We cannot permit you to stay with your son overnight, much as you both would like it," she continued regretfully.  
>"Daddy…." Tom yawned.<br>"Tom must rest now. You will be escorted to the Quarantine Unit, where you will be reunited with your wife and daughter," Matron ordered.  
>"Will I be allowed back to see him tomorrow?" asked Gordon.<br>"Provided you are still fit and healthy, yes," she replied. " Now Tom needs his sleep and so do you!" she told him. "You must stay strong for your son – he is very poorly, as you can see. He is a strong, healthy boy, but he is very weak, so he needs his rest!"

Gordon felt his hopes dive. He knew how serious Scarlet fever could be, but he also knew that young immune systems were strong and the survival rate had increased by 11% since 1943.  
>"Mr Ormerod?" a voice in his ear said.<br>Gordon jumped. He realised that he had been staring blankly at the white walls of the Isolation Ward corridor for the last five minutes.  
>"Yes….yes," he said in response.<br>"Nurse Maggie Bolton. I'm to accompany you to the Quarantine Unit," she announced, smiling up at him.  
>Gordon nodded at her despondently. He took one last look behind him at the closed-to-the-world door, beyond which, was Tom's home for the next few weeks. He took a deep breath and followed Nurse Bolton down the corridor.<p>

"Oh Gordon!" Jill cried, running towards the drained, windswept figure in the doorway. She embraced him tightly. As his grip around her waist tightened, she felt the dampness of his garments press against his chest. It was comforting, she thought. Even though he was sodden, that body heat, which penetrated through the damp and cold, made her skin tingle from her head to her toes. Jill tilted her head and carefully placed a kiss on her husband's lips. As she did so, she noticed that he had forgotten to wash off the pen, which Tom had graciously drawn onto his aging skin.  
>"Daddy!" Katie jumped up wildly from where she had been sat at the table, knocking the chair over as she went. She began to run towards her father, but slowed to a walk when she thought of how she had grown up in the last few days. If I've grown up physically, she thought, I have to behave more grown up. They might even treat me more grown up too. She smiled at her Dad and gave him a welcoming hug.<br>"How's Tom, Gordon?" Jill asked of her husband, winking at Katie as she did so. Katie smirked back at her. Jill knew that Katie had obviously noticed the pen marks on his face, still clearly visible from Tom's artistic nature, the night before.  
>"He is weak and scared," he answered in reply, "the illness seems to be consuming him."<br>Jill looked serious. She gave Gordon a sympathetic look, before she saw Katie attempt to hide her laughter and laughed with her.  
>Gordon looked from one laughing face to the other laughing face, unable to figure out what seemed to be so funny.<br>"Oh Gordon," choked Jill, through tears of laughter.  
>"I didn't know you wore glasses, Dad!" Katie giggled.<br>Gordon rushed over to the mirror in the corner of their room, above the sink. He looked in horror at the jagged, black outline of a pair of glasses, which surrounded his tired eyes.  
>"How long has it been there?" he asked his wife, embarrassed.<br>Katie answered the question for Jill. "Since last night, when Tom was drawing on your face," she replied, innocently.  
>Up until he went to bed at 10:30pm, Gordon had to check the state of his face at regular intervals, despite being assured, every time he did so, that it was clear and he had washed away all the pen marks.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

The next few days ran as smoothly as could be hoped, under the circumstances. Gordon and Jill took it in turns to visit Tom each day, and Katie began to get used to the idea of becoming more grown up.

On their fifth day in the enclosed Quarantine Unit, Dr Joseph visited them again, bringing good news. Unfortunately, it was only a minor consolation, considering Tom was still very weak. However, it did come as a relief to both Gordon and Jill that cover doctors had been found to replace them for the next four and a bit weeks.  
>"Mr Ormerod, Mrs Ormerod," said the distinct Ukrainian accent, "You will be pleased to know, that we have found cover doctors for you both. Dr Norton, who has recently returned from Kenya with her husband and twins, will replace you, Mrs Ormerod, and Dr Barnes, who I replaced at Ashfordly General, will return to us from retirement, to replace you Mr Ormerod." Dr Joseph smiled at them expectantly, waiting for their responses.<p>

Relief plagued Jill's body from her fingertips to the ends of her shaking toes. Creating a contact between her forehead, her hands and her knees, she sighed with an air of exasperation. It took her a few minutes for it to register that she was crying. A force of tears flooded her face. She felt a warm, loving arm creep around her shoulders. She leaned towards its owner, with a short-lived smile.

"They're in my class," Katie considered, thoughtfully.  
>"Who are, love?" enquired her father, still holding Jill lovingly.<br>"Stephen and Arabella Norton," she replied, matter-of-factly. "They have strong Kenyan accents too," she added for effect.  
>"Will Dr Norton still be allowed to practice if her children have been near Katie?" asked Jill, concerned.<br>"We have spoken with the General Medical Council and the Hospital Board at The Royal and they are satisfied that she is healthy enough to practice," Dr Joseph explained. "Ashfordly Comprehensive is happy that their Eighth Year's are safe enough to return to school. We have yet to receive any indication from Elsinby Primary School."  
>"Well, at least that's something," Gordon responded.<br>"There is more to consider with Elsinby Primary School, since Alicia Winger, Mary Hackett, George and James Kinsley all learn there too."  
>"Of course. Doctor, you will update us, if you hear from Tom's school?"<br>"Certainly." He gestured as he strode towards the door. He stopped at the door. Turning around, he added, "If you three are still showing no signs of the Fever by the end of next week, then you can return home."  
>Jill smiled with relief. She hated being cooped up in this white room. It had no character, she felt. It had probably been built for it's one efficient use, and trying not to give away the truth of people who stayed there.<br>"Aren't we supposed to be here for five weeks?" Katie asked of the retreating doctor.  
>Katie was very perceptive, Jill thought.<br>"We always must overestimate with these things," Dr Joseph tentatively replied.  
>He must be flustered, thought Jill; he was beginning to sweat heavily. He almost looked as though…no, she was imagining it.<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

"Dr Joseph. The police would like to speak with you, when you have finished here," reported a nurse, whom Jill recognised as the nurse, who was on Reception the day they had arrived.  
>"Thank you Nurse Beaumont," he snapped, flustered even more.<br>That was it, Jill thought! It had finally registered, where she before seen the Nurse. How could she have forgotten Samantha? After all, she had only left The Royal six months ago. Goodness, how the time had flown.

"Leo Joseph? We'd like to speak with you in connection with a missing person's enquiry," Sgt Merton requested.  
>"How can I help?" he asked politely.<br>"We have reason to believe you have a connection with the disappearance of Samantha Beaumont," PC Bellamy continued.  
>"She is a Nurse on my Isolation Ward at Ashfordly General," Dr Joseph stated, "So she has not disappeared."<br>"Her family and friends have not seen her for three weeks, her bills remain unpaid, and her ten-month-old son was left gagged in his cot, with third-degree burns to his legs and chest. Yet your Samantha at the Isolation Ward strongly denies any knowledge of having a little boy called Simon. She also denies any knowledge of having previously worked at St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital, where she previously worked alongside Dr Ormerod, when a girl died! How do you explain that?" Sgt Merton demanded.  
>"I am a doctor who specialises in the isolation and control of infectious illnesses. I am not responsible for what my nurses have done previously and if they remember. Provided they have the correct qualifications and suitable experience, they may work on my ward," he stated simply.<br>"That may be so, but how do you know that you are employing the person they say they are?" enquired PC Bellamy.  
>"I request they bring to their interview a copy of their CV and two forms of identification," Dr Joseph responded confidently.<br>"Do you still have copies of Samantha Beaumont's identification and CV?" Sgt Merton asked persistently.  
>"We don't keep copies once we have seen them and are satisfied there are no falsifications," Dr Joseph responded, rather too quickly for the liking of both PC Bellamy and Sgt Merton.<br>"Is it not standard practice to keep them?" asked Sgt Merton, who knew a little bit about the medical profession, since his wife was a pharmacist.  
>"Sgt Merton, if you think there is something wrong with the way I run the Isolation Ward at Ashfordly General, then next time, please have found some evidence and not just unfounded accusations!" Abruptly, he spun on his heels and marched off down the corridor.<br>"There's something about him I don't like, Bellamy. Check his criminal record," Sgt Merton ordered.  
>"Yes, Serg," replied PC Bellamy. <p>

"Now, Tom, I need you to be brave," Dr Joseph told Tom calmly, holding a large needle and syringe over him.  
>"Leave me alone. Daddy! Jill!" he called out in despair.<br>"They won't hear you in Whitby, boy," he snarled at Tom.  
>Tom began to cry, as Dr Joseph grabbed his wrist and injected a large dose of a substance Tom had never heard of before, into his lower arm. After a few minutes, Tom began to feel drowsy. Slowly, he began to fall into a deep stupor.<br>Dr Joseph carefully crept out of Tom's private room, shutting the blinds as he did so. Once on the outside of the door, he checked that no one was looking, locked the door and pocketed the key.


	14. Chapter 14

"Serg. There is no record of anyone in the area with the name Leonard Joseph," PC Bellamy worriedly informed Sgt Merton.  
>"Have you checked with Whitby Police?" he asked his PC.<br>"Yes, and York, Hull and Leeds. They have no record of him either," Bellamy reported.  
>"Get in touch with the GMC. They will have a record of him. Oh, and tell Rob to have another chat with Miss Beaumont."<br>"Yes Serg," he replied, before walking out of his Sergeant's office and shutting the door firmly behind him.

Back at the Quarantine Unit, Dr Joseph grabbed Nurse Beaumont and dragged her into a nearby storage cupboard.  
>"They're onto us, Ilena. The police have been asking me about you. In connection with a Missing Person's Enquiry!" This comment approached Ilena with slightly more vigour than was intended and at that moment, it was possible to see fear in her eyes.<br>"But how much do they know? And how do they know?" she asked tensely.  
>"I don't know, but we have to move her. Tonight!" he ordered.<br>"Are you sure it will be safe? Where will we move her to? How? What about the boy?" She shuffled her feet in an agitated manner of someone who knew there were things to be done, but deeply wished she didn't have to do them.  
>"Stop asking so many questions, and listen to me. Tom has had enough Metoprolol to send him to sleep eternally!" He laughed a satanic laugh. "We meet at 11pm and take her to Kleinenberg Cottage at dark. Then we'll do what we see fit! You're not having second thoughts, are you? Because if you are…"<br>No! I'm not!" she said tersely.  
>"I'm glad to hear it. Remember – be there, or forever hold your peace!"<br>He opened the door to the storage cupboard an inch, just to check whether anyone could see the suspicious pair, before creeping away along the corridor, leaving Ilena still inside the storage cupboard, and the door open. Shortly afterwards, Ilena followed suit.

After long thought about how to phrase her question, Katie finally plucked up enough courage to ask her step-mum.  
>"Jill? Why does Tom no longer have visits from you and Dad?"<br>"Katie, you must understand that your brother is very poorly."  
>"Don't patronise me!" Katie interrupted, stubbornly.<br>"Katie. I'm not trying to be patronising, I'm just trying to help you to understand how seriously ill Tom is. The reason we, I and your Dad, don't visit Tom any more, is because Dr Joseph has said that Tom is too ill for us to visit him, meaning that we would be in great danger of catching it ourselves. Dr Joseph doesn't want us to be ill, when Tom needs care. The reason is not because we don't care and don't want to see him."  
>Jill smiled sadly at a puzzled Katie.<br>"But I thought that you and Dad had already had Scarlet Fever?" Confusion was swiping Katie's face.  
>"I have had it, but your Father hasn't, and you haven't either," Jill answered.<br>"How could I catch it? I haven't seen him for seven days," Katie cried.  
>Jill sighed. "Katie, Scarlet Fever is highly infectious. Although Tom has the illness at the minute and is less infectious than he was, he could still have given you the illness either before he showed any signs of being ill, which we call the Incubation Period, when the infected person is at their most infectious or you could be infected by your father being infected by Tom." Jill didn't want to think of the latter option. She couldn't bear that to happen. Tom was enough for them to cope with at the minute, but Gordon and Katie too…No, I mustn't think negatively, she thought. But not even all the distractions in the world of why the police might want to speak with Dr Joseph could release the worry, which had grasped her thoughts and wouldn't let go. Get a grip, she told herself. Neither Gordon nor Katie has any symptoms, so they should be fine.<br>"So if you've already had it you can't have it again?" queried Katie.  
>"Exactly."<br>Katie hunched towards Jill and gave her a much-needed hug, which Jill returned, relishingly.


	15. Chapter 15

"Serg?"  
>"Yes, Bellamy?"<br>"The GMC have never heard of anyone with the name Leonard Joseph," Bellamy told Merton, regretfully.  
>"Oh dear!" Merton responded thoughtfully.<br>"Ring them back and ask for a list of all their Ukrainian doctors in the North Riding. I want to know ASAP, who this chap calling himself Dr Leaonard Joseph is."  
>"Right, Serg."<br>"Bellamy, is Walker back yet?"  
>"No, Serg," said Bellamy, in an honest tone that Merton knew well.<br>"When he gets back, tell him to report to me, please."  
>"Right, Serg," agreed Bellamy.<p>

There was a knock on the Sergeant's door.  
>"Yes?" Merton asked in his Scottish Highlands accent.<br>PC Rob Walker entered.  
>"Ahhh...Walker." Merton put his pen down on the desk and sat back in his chair, clearly waiting to hear what PC Walker had to say. "How did you get on at the hospital?"<br>Walker held his hands behind his back. "When I arrived, both Nurse Beamont and Dr Joseph had left the hospital. No one there knew where they might have gone."  
>"Oh this is great! Both our biggest leads have disappeared, and no one knows where they could be!"<br>"Sorry, Serg," Walker uttered.  
>"It's not your fault, Walker, you did your best. Do we know their home addresses?"<br>"No, Serg."  
>"Well, look them up and we'll pay them a surprise visit. I'll apply for Search Warrents."<br>"Serg." Walker walked back through to the main office, where Bellamy had his feet on the desk and was talking leisurely on the phone, whilst Ventress was shelling his boiled eggs.

"Any success Walker?"  
>"Yes, Serg. 11, Wood Street and 18, Burras Drive. Both in Elsinby."<br>"Okay, Walker, you check out the one on Wood Street. Bellamy, you and I will pay a visit to Dr Joseph on Burras Drive."  
>"Yes, Serg," replied both of the Constables instinctively.<p>

PC Walker knocked on the front door of 11, Wood Street, not knowing what to expect. Five minutes later, there was no reply, so he knocked again. Still there was no reply.  
>"Delta Alpha 22 to Delta Alpha 14. Over."<br>Sergeant Merton picked up the radio, replying, "Delta Alpha receiving. Go ahead Rob."  
>"Serg, there's no reply at 11, Wood Street. Should I return to the station? Over."<br>"Yes, Walker. Return to the station. Over."  
>"Yes, Serg," responded PC Walker.<br>"Good. Over and Out."  
>"Over and Out," he said, before throwing one leg over onto the other side of the bike and revving the engine vigourously.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

"Dr Willerby? Where's Dr Joseph?" Nurse Johns rushed from the doorway of Tom's room.  
>"No one knows. He didn't return from his lunchbreak. Why?" She noticed the Nurse's flustered expression.<br>"Tom isn't responding. I believe he has been drugged!"  
>"Nurse Johns, try to calm down and compose yourself. I will take a look at him myself," she responded, moving her hands in a calming manner, in the hope of restoring a notion of calm to Nurse Johns panic - striken appearance. "Tom? Dr Willerby entered his side-room. She walked over to where Tom lay, white as a ghost, beneath a pile of crinkled sheets. She worriedly listened to his heart and lungs.<br>"His heart has stopped! Nurse, 5 milligrams of adrenaline and page Dr Joseph. Goodness knows where he's got to!" ordered Dr Willerby, beginning CPR.  
>"Yes, Doctor." She hurried over to where the hypodermic needles and drugs cabinet were kept. In every side room, there was a permanent supply of adrenaline in the drugs cabinet. It was considered essential, since it was almost always effective in an emergency. No one needed to be told that twice. She handed Dr Willerby the needle containing the adrenaline solution and continued CPR, whilst Dr Willerby inserted the needle into Tom's limp arm. <p>

After returning the needle to Nurse Johns to dispose of in the Sharps bin, Dr Willerby continued CPR on Tom.  
>"Another five of adrenaline, please Nurse."<br>Nurse Johns responded quickly to the crisp-cut orders of Dr Willerby. With the brisk dexterity of a well-trained nurse, she handed her superior the fresh hypodermic needle in record time. Dr Willerby continued CPR.  
>"Shall I still page Dr Joseph?" she queried.<br>Nurse Johns watched Dr Willerby carefully listen to Tom's heart and lungs, searching for a sign of life. She shook her head. With the composure of a woman who had never held out much hope for the young boy, but still felt that there should have been more that could have been done to try to save his life.  
>"He's gone Nurse," Dr Willerby sighed.<br>"Are you going to call it?" Nurse Johns asked.  
>Dr Willerby took a deep breath, and said, "Time of death 21:54. Thank you Nurse Johns."<br>"It's such a shame, a young boy like Tom..."  
>"Hmmm..." mumbled Dr Willerby.<p>

"We'll have to inform the police...and also his family," an uncomfortable Nurse Johns said to Dr Willerby. Nurse Johns didn't know what to say to Dr Willerby. Losing such a young boy was always tough to comprehend and Nurse Johns didn't want to interrupt this process with Dr Willerby.

"Nurse Johns. Please will you inform the police and find Dr Joseph. I want to know why he wasn't here when his patient died," Dr Willerby ordered.  
>" Right away, Doctor," replied Nurse Johns.<br>Whilst Nurse Johns carried out her orders, Doctor Willerby gently pulled the crumpled, white sheet up, over Tom's head.  
>Returning in a slightly more composed manner, Nurse Johns informed Doctor Willerby of the development.<br>"Good," was all Doctor Willerby could muster. 


	17. Chapter 17

Ventress replaced the telephone receiver onto its hook. Slowly, he got up from his chair to venture unwishingly towards the Sergeant's Office.  
>Bellamy looked up from the paperwork Merton was making him suffer. "What's up, Alf? It's not like you to be this secretive." He teased a smile whilst he said this, unaware of the pain that had been caused.<br>"That lad in hospital - Tom Ormerod - he died fifteen minutes ago."  
>Bellamy's bumbelling smile faded, the moment his ears caught those words.<br>Ventress noticed Phil's embarrassment, and continued, to try to counteract his colleague's flushed face.  
>"It seems the poor lad overdosed on a drug. They'll be peforming a Post Mortem this afternoon. Dr Willerby would like us to help her break the sad news to his family who are in Quarantine at Ashfordly General Hospital."<p>

After informing Sgt Merton of young Tom's fate, PC Ventress returned to the office, where he, along with PCs Walker and Bellamy, would wait for instructions from their superior.

A certain serenity hung in the air of the office. Nobody liked breaking the news of a death to a family, especially when it was a child.

The three Constables' heads turned in the direction of Merton's Office, when they heard the handle turn.  
>"Ventress. Bellamy. You two keep guard outside Tom's room at the Isolation Ward, while Walker and I break the news to his parents." Merton addressed his officers empathetically, but with authority. It gave the impression that he was still in charge, yet he felt as they did under the circumstances.<p>

At the Quarantine Unit, Sergeant Merton asked to see the Ormerod family. Nurse Johns was on reception. She enquired on their sudden visit to the Ormerods. After all, the family had had no visitors in the three weeks they had been at the Quarantine Unit. On hearing the news of Tom's death, she promptly fell off her seat in shock.  
>Getting up and dusting down her dark blue uniform, she tried to restore some dignity to herself by asking, "Who would do such a thing?"<br>"That's what we intend to find out," PC Walker told her positively, whilst admiring her pretty blue eyes.  
>"This will destroy his family, Sergeant. Mr and Mrs Ormerod live for their children."<br>"Can you tell us where they are, so that we can break the news to them?" Merton asked, returning to his Sergeants tone of voice.  
>"Of course. It's this way." Nurse Johns began walking briskly down a corridor, leaving PC Walker and Sgt Merton to follow, mouths gaping like fish at her speed.<br>Halfway down the corridor, she stopped, turned and showed her surprise at seeing the two officers' expressions, as they stood, astounded, still at the Reception Desk.

Walker looked sheepish, and abruptly closed his mouth, trying to smile. However, it wasn't the time or the place for that behaviour, they all knew that. Remembering the task in hand, he followed his Sergeant down the corridor.  
>Nurse Johns knocked on the door, which opened into the Ormerods' temporary one-room home. It was opened by Mr Ormerod, a man in his early forties. Inside were his wife, Jill, a woman in her thirties, and his teenage daughter, Katie.<br>"Mr Ormerod. This is Sgt Merton and PC Walker. They'd like to speak to you about your son, Tom," Nurse Johns explained.  
>"May we come in, Mr Ormerod?" Sgt Merton asked politely.<br>"Of course, Sergeant. About what is it you want to speak with us concerning Tom?" he asked, unaware of what was to follow. "he's in the Isolation Ward at Ashfordly General."  
>"Perhaps you should sit down, Mr Ormerod," PC Walker suggested.<br>At this, Jill looked up from her darning and Katie stopped her drawing to look at the two Policemen.  
>"What's wrong, Sergeant? Has something happened to Tom?" Jill asked, beginning to sense that something wasn't right.<br>"Well, spit it out, man!" Mr Ormerod ordered, getting a little impatient.  
>"It might be easier if you sat down, Mr Ormerod," PC Walker suggested again.<br>"Gordon..." His wife tried to reason with him.  
>"I'm fine standing, thank you,"<br>"Very well, then," Sgt Merton acknowledged. "I'm afraid we have some bad news."  
>Katie put her pencil down and slowly turned round in her chair to listen. Jill, on the other hand, stopped the darning of one of her husband's socks, and looked at the two Policemen. Gordon's expression didn't change.<br>"Mr Ormerod, Mrs Ormerod. I'm afraid your son, Tom, was pronounced dead about forty minutes ago. I'm very sorry." Sgt Merton tried to break the news as softly as possible, but it was never going to be easy.

Jill sat in her seat, numb, unable to move. Tom, their Tom. Dead. It couldn't be. And yet the two Officers had just said so. They wouldn't lie about something this big. Jill felt a tear of traumatic terror slide down her cheek and plop onto her skirt. She looked up at her husband. He appeared tired, the heartbreak he was suffering at the hands of his son's death absolute. She was pretty sure that despite her husband's best efforts, the tears were pricking his eyes. The light made them shine like stars.

"Gordon, no!" shouted Jill too late, as her husband punched Sgt Merton in the face.


	18. Chapter 18

"Serg?"  
>"Yes, Walker?"<br>"Geoff's just radioed. The Search Warrants for Burras Drive and Wood Street have arrived at the station."  
>"Okay. Let's get back down there and pick them up. I'll radio Whitby. We'll need back up for this. We don't know how dangerous these people are. "<br>"Surely they'll know we're after them. If they have any sense, they'll be long gone by now."  
>"Well, let's hope they left us something useful."<p>

Back at the station, Sgt Merton filled in his Constables and Whitby CID, who had sent their men as quickly as they could.

Sgt Merton addressed the eleven men in front of him. "As you know, time is of the essence. We need to find Samantha Beaumont. Now anything that catches your eye, however small, I want to know. It could be important. here i have two Search warrants for both Dr Joseph's house on Burras Drive and Nurse Beaumont's house on Wood Street. Okay, Younger and Kane, I want you two to stay here at the station and man the radios, answer the telephones, etc."  
>"yes, serg."<br>"Yes Sgt Merton."  
>"Walker. You're in charge of searching Wood Street."<br>"Serg."  
>"You'll have DCs Yates, Van Der Lakke, MacGregor and Brogan assisting you."<br>Yates, Van Der Lakke, MacGregor and Brogan nod their heads at Sgt Merton in acceptance of their designated task.  
>"Bentley, Christopher and Mathieson, you'll be with Sgt Merton and myself, searching the Doctor's on Burras Drive," butted in DI Shiner.<br>Sgt Merton looked put out. He was used to DI Shiner's blunt, authoritative manner, but still resented how he tried to take over Uniform's cases.

DI Shiner walked back downstairs to rejoin Sgt Merton, hoping they'd had more success downstairs than he'd had upstairs.  
>"Anything?" he asked.<br>"Nothing. You?"  
>"No. Clean as a whistle. No amateurish mistakes here."<br>"He certainly knows what he's doing. I just hope he hasn't done this before."  
>"He's a doctor!"<br>"The GMC have never heard of him."

"Back to the station is it?" DI Shiner asked of Sgt Merton.  
>"Yes. We'll see if our Nurse Beaumont has been as good at covering her tracks as the good doctor."<br>"I'm sure my boys will have found something." DI Shiner boasted, confidently.  
>"Walker's a good officer. Doesn't miss a thing." Merton retaliated, feeling his stance had been regained.<br>"Didn't his father climb the other side of the rung?"  
>Merton didn't like Shiner's tone.<br>"It doesn't affect his work. He's a very good officer and unprejudiced. Now can we get back to what we set out to do? Catch those two killers."  
>DI Shiner reluctantly gave in to what could have been a good fight with the underdog.<p>

Merton led his team back into Ashfordly Police Station, where Walker and the boys from Whitby were waiting with bated breath.  
>"Did you get anything, Serg?" Walker asked him, uncertainly.<br>"No. Clean as a whistle. Any luck your end?"  
>"Well, Serg..."<br>Walker got no further, as DI Shiner butted in, asking, "What did you find boys?"  
>Merton glared at Shiner.<br>"No need for that, Dennis m'lad."  
>This made Sgt Merton grimace further.<br>Walker, switching his glance between Merton and DI Shiner, informed them of the address book found at 11, Wood Street, and the bit of paper stuffed in the back cover, which was badly hidden.  
>"It was half tucked under the back cover, Serg," Walker informed him.<br>"Kleinenberg Cottage, Wellan Lane, Aidensfield," Merton read.  
>"Where's that?" Shiner asked, bluntly.<br>Walker, turning his attention to DI Shiner, replied, "It's a derelict cottage out on the Elsinby road. There are quite a few outbuildings. They're not in a very good state though."  
>"It's quite isolated. No-one's lived in that cottage for over nine years. most of the outbuildings were destroyed by fire about seven years ago. We put it down to arson, Serg. Kids. No one was ever charged with anything though." Ventress, quite the fountain of knowledge on most police cases dating back to the twenties and thirties up to the present, had kept quiet up until now.<p>

"Serg. This has just arrived. It's addressed to you. I think it's from the GMC." Younger handed the large, brown envelope to Sgt Merton.  
>"Thank you, Younger." Merton ripped open the envelope, hoping it was the Search Warrant for Kleinenberg Cottage, which he'd tasked Younger to apply for. It wasn't. It was a list of all the Ukrainian doctors in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He'd forgotten he'd asked for that.<br>"What is it, serg?" Younger asked, tentativeliy.  
>"It's a list of all the Ukrainian doctors in the North Riding. There are only four. Hopefully our guy is one of them."<br>As Sgt Merton passed the list over to DI Shiner to read, he knocked its envelope, which he'd balanced precariously on the edge of Ventress' desk, which floated through the air, spraying its contents, higgledy-piggledy all over the floor, before making a perfect landing at DI Shiner's feet.  
>"And what are these?" DI Shiner asked, looking suspiciously at the Mug Shots staring up at him from the floor. Younger quickly knelt down to pick them up. Sgt Merton took them from him. The last pair of eyes he looked into, were the pair he wanted to see. The blue irises surrounded pupils of pure evil, a deep hatred for humanity, penetrating through them.<br>"He's our guy," Sgt Merton pointed out with certainty.  
>"How can you be sure?" DI Shiner questioned him.<br>"We've spoken to him," Rob walker informed him.  
>"Okay, what's his name then?"<br>Merton finished with, "Vladimir Ulanov." 


	19. Chapter 19

DI Shiner made his usual preliminary speech. "Okay boys, this is the guy we're looking for." He held up an A4 print of Vladimir Ulanov and passed copies around the group. "His name is Vladimir Ulanov, but we know him as Dr Leonard Joseph of Ashfordly General. We want him in connection with murder, GBH, kidnap and unregistered practice of medicine. He is also wanted by the Ukrainian Police for fraud in Norvivostok."  
>As soon as a Search Warrant arrived, the Police steamed up the Elsinby road as fast as their wheels would take them. They were designated their tasks and set to.<p>

"Serg," Walker called from a haybarn, dusty with age and lack of use.  
>"What have you got?" DI Shiner barged through the door, full of his own self importance.<br>"There's a trapdoor under this hay." Walker swept most of the loose hay out of the way, so they could see.  
>"Okay boys, let's get it open," DI Shiner ordered.<br>Sgt Merton, who's view up until now had been obscured by DI Shiner, squeezed between the Inspector and an unsteady, wooden wall, which was covered in cobwebs, to oversee what was happening in front of him. It took Mathieson, Van Der Lakke and MacGregor to lift the trapdoor six inches upwards. Brogan and Sgt Merton quickly shoved a sturdy plank of wood underneath it, to prevent it from sticking shut again. Carefully, the constables let the trapdoor rest on the plank of wood and took a firmer grip of it. Inch by inch, it creaked open. With no warning, an audacious smell hit them. It was similar to the smell repugnant, month-old sweaty socks leave in an unaired bedroom. PC Younger looked ill and DI Shiner put his hand over his nose and mouth and turned away in disgust.

"Eugh! Urine!" Younger announced to an undelighted audience.  
>"Sshh!" Sgt Merton uttered, urgently.<br>Everyone obeyed him and stood stock still. Through the empty silence they had created, muffled movements could be heard. They were coming from inside the pitch black hole beneath them.  
>"Hello?" Sgt Merton called into the hole.<br>The same muffled noises echoed up to them.  
>"We need to get down there," DI Shiner ordered.<br>"But how? We don't know how deep it is." Younger had gone pale.  
>"What's the matter, lad? Don't you like the dark? because if I were you, I'd buck up your ideas, or..."<br>"That's enough!" Sgt Merton ordered. "I don't take kindly to Senior Police Officors threatening my men."  
>DI Shiner gave Sgt Merton a look, which said, "Very well then."<br>Very soon, DI Shiner's men were lowering a ladder through the trapdoor, whilst Younger and DC Kane were trusted with two large flashlights.  
>"A little to the left, please, Kane," asked DI Shiner.<br>"Yes, sir." He moved automatically to the Inspector's sharp commands.

"Okay, Rob," Sgt Merton instructed, "You first."  
>"are you sure we shouldn't send a more...more experienced officer down first?" DI Shiner interrupted, before Rob could mount the ladder.<br>"What exactly are you implying by that, if I may ask, Inspector? I hope you're not saying PC Walker's not up to the job. Oh, but of course! Because of his background, you don't think he should go down first, is that it? Well, let me tell you something, shall I? PC Walker is one of the best, most competant policemen I have had the pleasure of working with. I trust him with whatever work I give him. Now, I had my dubitations about him at first, considering his background, but he has proved to me on many occasions that he is more than capable of doing the job. If that hadn't have convinced me, then his loyalty and commitment to the job do prove to me that he has chosen the right career to follow, Inspector. Now can we get back to Samantha Beaumont, please? Walker." Sgt Merton indicates to Rob with a nod of his head toward the ladder, that he wants him to go down the ladder first.

Serg!" Geoff Younger called out into the darkness. "Over here."  
>The muffled noises, which they could now make out to be weak cries for help, since the girl was gagged, were getting nearer.<br>"I think it's the nurse." PC Younger continued.  
>"Okay, everyone be vigilant. We've no idea what lengths these people will go to, to cover their tracks. They could have laid any number of traps." DI Shiner hoped to sound street wise.<br>As they approached the terrified captive, they could see that the entire left side of her body was expertly bandaged up, but obviously hadn't been changed recently, as dirt clung to every inch of material.  
>"Someone call an ambulance and Dr Trent," Sgt Merton ordered.<br>DC Kane radioed for an ambulance and the doctor, whilst Rob, DI Shiner and Sgt Merton untied Samantha Beaumont.  
>"Mathieson. Brogan." Shiner barked. "Bag all these ropes and gags. make sure they get fingerprinted."<br>"Yes, sir," they respond in unison. They depart to safeguard the bagged evidence, on its journey back to Ashfordly Police Station.  
>"Simon? Simon...?" Was all Samantha was capable of mumbling.<p> 


End file.
